Budget contains shortcomings

Well, it wasn't worth the wait. The budget approved by the U.S. Senate, that is.

Under Democrat control, the Senate had not approved a budget in four years. That is an exceedingly disturbing lapse in the duty senators have under the Constitution.

But the budget approved by the narrowest of margins - 50-49 - badly shirked the duty senators have to the American people, to honestly address the deficit spending crisis.

Liberals touted the alleged deficit reduction included in the Senate budget. Eventually, they say, it will reduce deficit spending to $400 billion a year.

But think about this: Before Barack Obama became president, the annual deficit had topped $400 billion only twice in the nation's history (fiscal years 2004 and 2008).

And, though Obama got tax increases he demanded just a few months ago, the Senate budget includes even more of them - nearly $1 trillion during the next decade.

It will come as no surprise the Senate budget is a dishonest one, in some ways. For example, part of the alleged deficit reduction is in lowered interest payments on the national debt that liberals claim will result from the modest spending cuts included in their plan.

No, the Senate proposal wasn't worth the four-year wait. It dodged almost entirely the need for entitlement reform and used more massive tax increases for minimal deficit reductions. Senators really ought to try again.

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Budget contains shortcomings

Well, it wasn't worth the wait. The budget approved by the U.S. Senate, that is.